By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2006
HANOI — Decades after the end of the Vietnam War, an American colonel from Kentucky has made a triumphant arrival in this communist capital.
But rather than battling for any hearts and minds, this newest in-country campaign is being waged over Vietnam’s stomach.
KFC Corp. — and its white-bearded icon, Col. Sanders — recently became the first U.S.-based fast-food chain to open a restaurant in Hanoi.
Though expensive by Vietnamese standards, costing three times as much as a pho noodle bowl, a traditional dish sold at local restaurants, Southern fried chicken is quickly attracting a hungry following.
To celebrate her birthday, math tutor Vu Thi Viet Anh and her two teenage students decided to splurge at the fast-food outlet. “The food tastes greasier than Vietnamese food,” Anh said. “I like that.”
KFC’s arrival in Hanoi comes as Vietnam is poised to join the World Trade Organization, a move that could open the door for a wide spectrum of foreign investment.
“As Vietnam opens its markets to the world, we’re readying to accept many new things from other countries. Fast food is just one of them,” said Nguyen Ba Hung, a deputy director for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who specializes in U.S. issues.
A large and predominantly young population, free-market changes and a fast-growing economy have marked the former pariah state as Asia’s last significant bastion of untapped retail potential.
Once-unlikely trading partners, the United States and Vietnam did nearly $8 billion in two-way trade last year, and Vietnam ranks among the fastest-growing markets in Asia for U.S. goods.
Though primed for an even larger foreign retail invasion, Vietnam knows that the road to capitalism via the spicy chicken sandwich is fraught with peril: The nation is among those with the most cases of avian flu, which has killed dozens of people.
Restaurant workers say the chicken served in Hanoi’s KFC is imported from Thailand, and customers are given constant reminders that chicken is good for them.
In 2004, KFC outlets in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, pulled chicken from the menu after a bird flu scare. At the time, the chain began pushing its fish sandwiches.
Critics worry that a taste for foreign food may drive Vietnamese youth away from their own culture.
“It’s only food, but it can have an influence,” said Hung, the Foreign Ministry official. “If young people get to like this American fast food, they may develop a fixation for the country that produces it. They may feel they can no longer be 100% Vietnamese. We don’t want that to happen.”
Hung needn’t worry about everyone in Hanoi, which served as the capital of communist North Vietnam during the war. Here, a traditional atmosphere remains. Workers still walk the streets wearing non la, the traditional conical hats.
One cab driver tipped down his Ray-Ban sunglasses to say he wouldn’t go near any KFC restaurant. “I have no interest,” he said.
Others question an appetite for greasy fast food in a land of light, healthy fare.
“Yes, it’s a sign of the times, it’s the way of the world, it’s what people want, but it’s also damn depressing,” wrote a columnist in the Vietnam Investment Review, “so depressing I think I’m going to go out and gorge myself on bun rieu, bun cha, pho ga…. After all, we don’t need ‘finger-licking good’ in Vietnam — we use chopsticks.”
Still, Vietnam is considered a hot market for fast food: More than 65% of its 80 million residents are younger than 35.
In 1998, KFC opened its doors in Ho Chi Minh City, which now has 20 outlets.
But the move 700 miles north to Hanoi, a city of 3.5 million, took a while because of the region’s more conservative culture and the city’s status as the seat of the communist government, officials say.
Since its opening in July on the first floor of a retail-office complex, the 120-seat Hanoi KFC outlet has become a popular spot for teens and young adults.
“This is really good,” 17-year-old Nguyen Phuong Dung said as she and her older brother lunched on platters of chicken and fries in Hanoi’s financial district. “But it’s expensive for a student.”
“It’s the best restaurant in town,” said a beaming Raed Omar, an Iraqi businessman. “It’s the flair of the place, the way the food is cooked. You get addicted to it. I lived in the U.S. for years and couldn’t wait for them to open a KFC here.”
Hung, of the Foreign Ministry, said he took his two sons to KFC as a reward for good grades in school. “But we can do it only occasionally,” he said. “It’s still a luxury, especially for low-income people.”
Nguyen Phuong Dung and her waif-thin older brother said calories were an issue. “I only come here occasionally,” she said. “Sure, the cost is more. But I’m just afraid of getting fat. My mother always warns me about that.”
In the early afternoon one recent weekday, many of the red-and-white leather-seated booths were full. But not everyone was hungry for a taste of fast-food America.
Nguyen Bao Lien sat glumly over her fried chicken and fries. As her tutor and a fellow math student dived into their meals, the 14-year-old sighed. She’d prefer a nice bowl of pho any day.
“They made me come here,” she said.
